Open AccessUntitled
Author(s) -
Nune Karakhanyan
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
politikon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1583-3984
pISSN - 2414-6633
DOI - 10.22151/politikon.12.14
Subject(s) - accession , european union , frontier , political science , politics , constitution , humanism , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , political economy , law , sociology , international trade , economics , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
The European Union is currently revisiting the nature of its newly acquired external boundary, which resulted from the 1 May 2004 accession of ten Central and Eastern European countries to the EU. The EU eastern frontier borders on the centuries old European perceptions and understandings of the Other are currently solidifying in polarization to its Medieval conceptualizations. These conceptualizations emerged with the formation of a promising European political awareness which developed under Charlemagne in 800s, and which was characterized by juxtaposition of the emerging Christendom to the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. These constructions of the Other were perceived as cultural, political and religious threats that needed to be abated and controlled. Finally, the EU came up with a Constitution for Europe which although failed the referendums is still a founding document that defines the values and principles developed from the cultural, religious and humanistic inheritance of Europe.